A property management system is typically used within the hospitality industry, among others, to keep track of guests, available rooms, billing, special services, reservations and a large number of other aspects of the business. In, for example a hotel, the property management system might be used to track reservations, to check guests into and out of rooms, to track use of hotel services and to generate a bill upon the end of the stay. Recently, property management systems have been connected to telephone messaging systems, such as automated attendants, unified messaging systems and voice mail systems. This can allow voice mail boxes, fax numbers, e-mail address, direct inward dial (DID) lines and other messaging services to be linked to individual rooms and guests automatically. For example, when a guest checks in, a voice mailbox resource can automatically be assigned to the appropriate room, with a default greeting. If the guest is transferred from another room, the voice mailbox can be transferred to the room as well. Personal guest profiles have been proposed which would allow a greeting and various preferences to automatically be assigned to a guest voice mailbox and to the messaging services when the guest checks in. A variety of other services and features may also be provided.
A property management system and a voice mail system typically communicate with each other through external wired interfaces, for example a serial port based on the RS-232 standard (Recommended Standard 232 promulgated by the Electrical Industries Association). Such an interface can be operated using a variety of different communications parameters. In addition, current property management systems use different incompatible communications protocols. As a result, a messaging system cannot communicate with any one particular property management system unless and until it is configured to operate using the appropriate parameters and protocols. The requirement for configuration adds to the expense of procurement, installation and maintenance.